I'm back!
I got home from vacation at 3 AM on Monday morning :/ I did get to skip school and sleep all day, though.
Anyway, updates will start coming once to twice a week, depending on how much free time I have. Once summer comes updates will be more frequent than that!
"It opens at eight," Peeta says on Thursday night. We'd gone to Animal Kingdom today and I was extremely tired. "I say we get there right at eight. It's two parks, you know."
"Okay," I say sleepily.
Peeta grins at me. "Are you going to sleep at 7:30 at night?"
"Don't put it past me," I say.
He gets off his laptop and climbs into the bed next to me. "Do you need me to wake you up?" He grabs my waist and pulls me to him. He kisses me and I kiss him back briefly. He pulls away and kisses down my neck and my collarbone.
"Peeta," I say, but he keeps kissing my neck. "Peeta, I'm not in the mood." What he does next is the equivalent of a raspberry on my neck. I laugh and push him away. "Peeta!"
He grins. "Have I been tiring you out this week?"
"Yes, you have," I tease.
"Oh, that's it," he teases back. He stands up, grabs my waist, and hoists me over his shoulder.
"Peeta!" I shout. "Put me down!" But we're both laughing. He spins me around a couple times and lays me back down on the bed. He climbs over me and kisses me. This time, we don't kiss briefly. Every night this week, we've gone a little further. And every night, I've panicked and ended up sobbing on the bathroom floor in Peeta's lap.
Peeta pulls away when there's a knock on the door. "Horrible timing," Peeta whispers, placing a chaste kiss on the lips and walking to the door. The room service Peeta ordered arrives and Peeta hands me my plate. He sit on the bed, facing each other while we eat.
When we're finished, I expect him to kiss me again, but he doesn't. He just stands awkwardly in front of the bed.
"What're you doing?" I ask.
"I can't do this again," he says.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Climb into bed and kiss you and take your clothes off," Peeta says. "Because every time it makes you cry. I don't want to make you cry anymore."
My heart melts when Peeta says that. He thought it was him making me cry. And he didn't want to make me cry, so he was going to stop doing something that he so obviously loved because he thought it upset me.
"Peeta," I say softly. "It's not you making me cry."
He nods. "I know. But you start crying because of what I'm doing to you. I'm pushing you, Katniss. I told you I'd wait, so I'll wait. I'm not going to be selfish anymore."
"Peeta . . ."
"No," he says. "I've known you for two months, Katniss. It's only been two months. You're not ready to be intimate with another guy. I understand."
"I'm sorry," I say softly.
"I'm going to start fining you for every time you apologize," Peeta says. "None of this is your fault. It's my fault. I was pushing you." He climbs onto the bed and sits beside me. "I just . . . you're so different from the girl I met two months ago. You've improved a lot. I just thought that you were ready. I'm sorry."
"I want it so bad," I say softly. "You have no idea."
He grins. "Trust me, I want it just as bad as you do."
"It's just . . . every time you do something Gale used to do or you touch me where he used to touch me, I freak out," I whisper. "It's like I think you're Gale."
"I'm not Gale," he says. "I'll never be Gale."
"I know," I say. "I know."
AEAEAEAEAEAE
"Hey! Wake up!" Peeta says, throwing a pillow at me. It was Saturday morning. We were at Universal Studios from eight in the morning to ten at night. It wasn't crowded, so we rode most of the rides multiple times.
"If you were within arms' reach, I'd smack you," I grumble. It's two hours to the beach and Peeta wants to get there by 10.
"Katniss Everdeen, this is your last warning," he says.
"Okay, Mom," I say, turning over.
"Katniss!" he whines. "I want to go to the beach!"
"Peeta!" I mock. "I want to sleep!"
"We can sleep in tomorrow morning," Peeta says. "I promise!"
I groan and sit up. Vacations, I've discovered, are extremely tiring. Or vacations with Peeta are very tiring.
"Do you want to go zip-lining tomorrow?" Peeta asks. "There's some eco-safari thing I found last night that looks like fun."
"Zip-lining?"
"It'll be fun," he says.
"That's scary," I say.
He grins. "Are you scared of heights?"
I scowl. "No. Fine. Let's zip-line. I'm not scared."
He laughs. "You're allowed to be scared of heights, babe. It's okay if you don't want to. We can go shopping or something."
"I hate shopping."
AEAEAEAEAEAE
"Have you ever been to the ocean?" Peeta asks.
I shook my head.
"Well, c'mon," he says. "Let's go in."
He grabs my hand and pulls me to the water. It's fairly warm and there's not many people here. He pulls me to where the water is waist-deep. "Riding the waves is really run," Peeta says. "You just jump."
"Jump?" I ask.
"Yeah," he says. "Right as the wave is coming, you jump and go where it takes you."
"What if it takes me under?" I ask.
He grins. "Then you go under. I can't tell you how many times I've been flipped over under water."
"That's crazy, Peeta," I say.
"It's a thrill," he shrugs.
"You're kind of a thrill-seeker," I say.
He smiles. "C'mon." We go out further and stand and wait.
"This is very fun, Peeta," I say sarcastically.
He laughs. "Just shut up and wait."
I know he's joking, but I wince anyway. I remember when Gale used to tell me to shut up. Peeta notices and his arms are around my waist in a second. "Katniss, I'm sorry," he says. "I should've known. God, I'm so stupid."
I shake my head. "You were joking. You didn't mean it."
He smiles and kisses me. We kiss for a long time. We hear the roar and crash of a wave a second too late. It hits us and knocks us off our feet. Peeta holds on to me underwater and when we can finally stand up, we both start laughing. Peeta shakes out his hair like a dog and grins at me. "See, it is fun, isn't it?"
I laugh. "And terrifying."
"You're not a thrill-seeker," he laughs.
"I don't like dangerous things," I say. "I think I've had enough dangerous for a lifetime."
Peeta nods. "There's a difference between danger and a thrill, Katniss."
"It's hard to differentiate."
He smiles sadly. "You know, I really wish I'd known you when you were with Jackass."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because if you and I had been friends or something, and you had told me about him, I would have ripped him apart," Peeta says. "I still will, whenever I see him."
"You don't have to."
Peeta grabs my wrist and pulls me towards him. "Yes, I do. You're my girlfriend and I will protect you."
I wrap my arms around Peeta's neck and kiss him. This time, we pull away before we get pummeled by a wave.
So I've been thinking about writing a story with this Katniss and this Peeta, but Peeta knows Katniss when she's still with Gale. I don't know any of the particulars, but would you guys read that story? Please let me know! :)